Microsoft: Debt Worries Businesses

As Republicans continue to argue for a short-term compromise, which would not give our economy certainty and hurt job creation, business leaders are calling on Congress to quickly take action and compromise so that we pay our nation’s bills and avoid the catastrophic consequences of default:

Key point: “All of us in the business community have been watching that issue unfold. I think like most Americans, we’ve been confident that people will come to a common agreement,” Smith told POLITICO. “Of course with each passing day and the approaching deadline, there is a heightening sense of nervousness in the business community.”

Microsoft: Debt worries businesses

By: Kim Hart

July 25, 2011 06:34 PM EDT

As the deadline for debt ceiling negotiations looms, the business community is growing uneasy.
Microsoft, one of the country’s biggest companies, is among the voices of corporate America calling for compromise in the heated debate. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said he’s hopeful both parties can cross party lines to find resolution.

“All of us in the business community have been watching that issue unfold. I think like most Americans, we’ve been confident that people will come to a common agreement,” Smith told POLITICO. “Of course with each passing day and the approaching deadline, there is a heightening sense of nervousness in the business community.”

“We are one of many business voices hoping that sanity will prevail and that people will come together and find a way to reach an agreement on the debt ceiling,” Smith said.

Businesses — and their investors — are getting jumpy as the debt negotiations drag on.

Until this week, investors had shown confidence that an agreement could be reached by the Aug. 2 deadline to stave off financial fallout. But U.S. stocks fell Monday, a sign that patience is running thin and worries are growing about the possibility that a deal might not be reached.

Smith is in Washington this week to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on high-skilled immigration. But the debt ceiling talks are a top concern for all businesses that are looking to Washington for leadership.

“The most important thing for companies like ours to do is to be a voice that recognizes that more than anything else, compromise is needed all around,” he said. “That’s what the business community needs from the federal government. We need a path forward that can unite people across the aisle.”